Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/183

 has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets.

Jewish Veneration of their Scriptures

We have given practical proof of the spirit in which we treat our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them, and, if need be, cheerfully to die for them. Time and again ere now the sight has been witnessed of prisoners enduring tortures and death in every form in the theatres, rather than utter a single word against the laws and the allied documents.—c. Ap. I. 6-8 (29-43). (64) Universal Imitation of our Laws the sincerest flattery

Now, since Time is reckoned in all cases the surest test of worth, I would call Time to witness to the excellence of our lawgiver and of the doctrine which he has delivered to us concerning God. An infinity of time has passed (since Moses) by comparison with the ages in which other lawgivers lived; yet it will be found that throughout the whole of that period not merely have our laws stood the test of our own use, but they have to an ever-increasing extent instilled an emulation of them into the world at large.

Our earliest imitators were the Greek philosophers,